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FORESEE · Project

Protect Roads, Bridges, and Railways from Floods, Landslides, and Earthquakes

transportPilotedTRL 7
foreseeproject.eu

Imagine your country's busiest highway gets hit by a landslide or a bridge cracks after an earthquake — and nobody saw it coming. FORESEE built a complete warning-and-response toolkit that uses satellites and ground sensors to spot trouble early, predict what extreme weather will do to roads and railways, and tell infrastructure managers exactly what to fix and when. They tested it on real bridges, highways, and rail lines across 6 sites in Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Germany, covering everything from floods to earthquakes to heavy snow.

By the numbers
22
consortium partners involved
8
countries represented in the consortium
6
real-world demonstration case studies completed
59%
industry ratio in the consortium
13
industry partners in the consortium
19
total project deliverables
The business problem

What needed solving

Extreme weather events — floods, landslides, heavy snow, earthquakes — cause billions in damage to transport infrastructure every year, and most road and rail operators have no reliable way to predict which assets are at risk or prioritize repairs before disaster strikes. Current maintenance planning is reactive rather than predictive, and there is no standard method to assess the long-term resilience of transport corridors against multiple hazard types simultaneously.

The solution

What was built

FORESEE delivered a complete infrastructure resilience toolkit including: a satellite and terrestrial Data Acquisition System, a Situation Awareness System for predicting and alerting on extreme events, new materials for permeable pavements and slope stabilization, a Decision Support System for informed maintenance planning, and published guidelines on standards and design recommendations. All components were validated across 6 real infrastructure sites including bridges, highways, a viaduct, and a railway line.

Audience

Who needs this

National road authorities and highway concession operators managing aging infrastructureRailway infrastructure managers dealing with flood and landslide risks along rail corridorsBridge and viaduct management agencies needing earthquake resilience assessmentsCivil engineering consultancies offering structural health monitoring servicesInsurance companies underwriting transport infrastructure against natural disaster risk
Business applications

Who can put this to work

Road and Highway Management
enterprise
Target: National road authorities, highway concession operators, toll road companies

If you are a highway operator dealing with unpredictable damage from floods, landslides, or earthquakes — this project developed a Decision Support System tested on the A16 (Naples-Bari) and A24 (Carsoli-Torano) highways in Italy that plans maintenance interventions and sets procedures for managing rainfall, snow, landslides, and earthquake events. It combines satellite monitoring with ground sensors to give you early warnings and cost-effective repair priorities.

Railway Infrastructure
enterprise
Target: National rail operators, rail infrastructure managers, railway maintenance contractors

If you are a rail operator worried about flooding disrupting your tracks — this project tested a resilience scheme on Railway track 6185 (Oebisfelde to Berlin-Spandau) in Germany, analyzing the effects of rising water levels and delivering maintenance and upgrading plans. The toolkit includes satellite-based data acquisition and a situation awareness system for prediction and alerts of extreme events.

Bridge and Structural Engineering
mid-size
Target: Bridge management agencies, structural health monitoring firms, civil engineering consultancies

If you manage aging bridges and need to prepare for seismic events — this project validated its full toolkit on the 25th April Bridge in Portugal, focusing on earthquake resilience, structural upgrading solutions, and emergency people management during a simulated train accident. The Montabliz Viaduct in Spain was also used to test preventive maintenance, ground control, and risk assessment for user safety.

Frequently asked

Quick answers

What would it cost to implement this toolkit on our infrastructure?

The project data does not include specific licensing or implementation costs. However, the toolkit was designed to be 'easily implementable' and integrated into existing infrastructure life-cycle procedures, which suggests it was built to work within standard maintenance budgets rather than requiring massive new investment. Contact the coordinator for pricing details.

Can this work at the scale of a national road or rail network?

The toolkit was tested across 6 real-world case studies spanning 4 countries — highways (A16, A24, M30), a major bridge (25th April Bridge), a viaduct (Montabliz), and a railway line (track 6185). This cross-modal, multi-country validation with 22 consortium partners suggests strong readiness for national-scale deployment.

Who owns the IP and can we license the technology?

The project was funded as a Research and Innovation Action coordinated by Tecnalia Research & Innovation in Spain with 22 partners across 8 countries. IP is likely shared among consortium members. Pre-standardization activities were carried out during the project, which may ease future adoption. Contact Tecnalia directly for licensing terms.

Does this meet current European infrastructure regulations?

FORESEE explicitly included pre-standardization activities throughout the project and produced Guidelines on Standards, Design and Technological recommendations. The toolkit was designed to integrate into existing infrastructure life-cycle procedures, aligning with current European transport regulation practices.

How long does it take to deploy the monitoring system?

Based on available project data, the toolkit includes both satellite and terrestrial data acquisition systems, meaning part of the monitoring can begin immediately via satellite without on-site installation. Specific deployment timelines are not detailed in the project data — they will vary by infrastructure type and scale.

Can this integrate with our existing monitoring and maintenance systems?

The project was specifically designed for integration into 'infrastructure life-cycle usual procedures.' The Decision Support System provides resilience schemes that feed into existing maintenance and upgrading plans, as demonstrated in the German railway and Italian highway case studies.

What types of extreme events does this cover?

The toolkit addresses flooding, landslides, earthquakes, heavy snowfall, and heavy traffic — plus cascade effects where multiple events combine (e.g., earthquake plus snow, or heavy snow plus heavy traffic). This was validated across all 6 demonstration sites covering different hazard combinations.

Consortium

Who built it

This is a large, industry-heavy consortium with 22 partners across 8 European countries, led by Tecnalia — one of Spain's top applied research organizations. With 13 industry partners making up 59% of the consortium and only 3 SMEs, this project was clearly driven by major infrastructure players who need these solutions in practice. The 5 universities and 3 research centers provided the scientific backbone, but the real weight is on the industry side. For a business buyer, this means the toolkit was built by people who understand operational infrastructure challenges, not just academic theory. The geographic spread (Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, UK) also means the solutions were tested across different regulatory environments and climate conditions.

How to reach the team

Tecnalia Research & Innovation (Spain) coordinated this project. Use Google AI Search to find the project coordinator's contact details.

Order a report on this consortiumSee FUNDACION TECNALIA RESEARCH & INNOVATION profile →
Next steps

Talk to the team behind this work.

Want to connect with the FORESEE team for licensing, pilot deployment, or technical consultation? SciTransfer can arrange an introduction and help you evaluate fit for your infrastructure.

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